Tag: gear

A few weeks ago I ran across a huge structure fire. Traffic was backed up because it was near the intersection of two major roads. I parked about a half mile away and walked to a parking lot across from the fire. Only a few fire trucks were there, and the police hadn’t arrived yet to cordon off the area. My plan was to get some early shots and get out.

The first part of the plan worked perfectly. The second caused all sorts of problems. I had already called the photo desk of the local paper, and was cleared to send my pictures. But I only had my camera and phone. I didn’t like the way the phone pictures were coming out, and knew the DSLR pictures would be the good ones. The problem was that my laptop was at home. So by the time I walked back to the car, fought through traffic, took the long way around the traffic, got home and sent the pictures, the photographer from the paper had his pictures uploaded already.

Getting scooped is like getting punched. It hurts even if you’re expecting it. So I decided that putting together a “emergency transmit kit” would help prevent this in the future.